"Stranger Things" was released on Netflix on July 15, 2016. In the show, the year was 1983. The main character, Eleven was about the same age as the actress playing her, Millie Bobby Brown, who was 12 (Eleven was 12 years old - confusing I know). The same age as my daughter at the time. My son was 10. The fourth season of the show has now aired in 2022. In the show, it's now 1986. The characters have only aged three years but the actors have aged six. My kids were were 10 and 12, now 16 and 18. Big years for them, big for the kids in the show. We have watched them grow up in parallel. It's been a family adventure and one which I have cherished because the creators of the show, The Duffer Brothers, tapped into my childhood - a montage of 80s films referenced: "E.T.," "The Goonies," "Carrie," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," and John Carpenter's "The Thing" all figured prominently in the first season. Now we are into the epic fourth season, films like "Nightmare on Elm Street," "House" (1985),"Alien," "Sixteen Candles," and "Lifeforce," pepper this season's imagery - darker and more mature, like our teens.
If you haven't watched it, it's about a small town called Hawkins and they have a government facility, a lab, and they are performing secret experiments on kids. A teen has gone missing. Turns out he was trapped in an alternate world just below the town itself - The Upside-down. I won't bother to explain more. It's a science fiction/horror show likened to the films I previously referenced. There is a heavy nostalgia factor for me and it's been a joy to share with my own kids. It's smart, it's fun, and it's one of the best things on TV. Take a trip to the Upside-down on Netflix, Kate Bush will meet you there in season 4.
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